Unpacking the cultural fascination with Sydney Sweeney's boobs.

Sydney Sweeney knows her biggest assets. 

The Anyone But You star shared a cheeky post on Instagram to declare via a jumper slogan: "Sorry for having great tits." 

No need to apologise, Sydney. She does have great — nay, incredible — tits. 

In fact, I think about Sydney Sweeney's boobs more often than most. But there's something about a beautiful woman with naturally big ol' marvellous melons that seems to entrance us all. 

From countless subreddits to fan edits and TikTok dedications, Sweeney's appeal is rising with every new acting role. 

I'm not just referring to straight men, queer women and non-binary people lusting after Sydney (can't blame y'all though), it's much more widespread than that. Sydney Sweeney fever has afflicted everyone. 

Listen to The Spill's hosts discuss Sydney Sweeney. Post continues after podcast.

So why the constant fascination about big-breasted women? 

One could theorise it comes back to biology, as people have long recycled the myth that larger breasts means a woman is more fertile. But for me, big boobs are aspirational. 

As someone who possesses a modest-sized bust, I think about what it would be like to have big boobs a lot. 

It goes back to being a late bloomer, as my boobs didn't fully develop until I was about 20-year-old which meant I spent my high school years waiting for a miracle. Back in high school, I'd compare my body to those around me and the teen girls who had been blessed with a larger chest than me. 

This fascination with breast size has carried into my adult years so that when I see a large-boobed woman, I'm entranced. 

I'm clearly not alone — every few years there's a woman whose body shape has jaws on the floor.

Growing up for me, Jennifer Love Hewitt's slim frame and 36C boobs were the body of the moment. Her large bust was so renowned that in one Scary Movie spoof, she was referred to as 'Jennifer Love Huge Tits'. 

Jennifer Love Hewitt in 1999. Image: Getty. 

In pop music, Katy Perry followed in the sizeable bra space of Jessica Simpson, as two singers whose bust size is almost as recognisable as their hit songs. 

In Hollywood, it was impossible to talk about actresses such as Scarlett Johansson, Sofia Vergara and Jennifer Lawrence without comments being made about their slim figures and generous bust. On our TV screens, Sarah Jessica Parker on Sex and the City provided another unattainable body shape for women to revere. 

More recently, model Emily Ratajowski's tiny frame and big boobs have fascinated the world, with one sexist 2018 profile in French Marie Claire writing she had been "blessed with the most perfect breasts of her generation".

This brings us to the 'body of the moment' and the woman it's attached to: Sydney Sweeney. 

Since breaking into the public consciousness as Cassie on Euphoria, there's been a lot of discourse about her boobs. 

Predictably, some of it has been straight-up deranged. 

In Canada’s National Post, a writer pondered ‘Are Sydney Sweeney’s breasts double-D harbingers of the death of woke?’.

Other publications simply announced that 'big boobs are back' and Sweeney was the chosen conduit for this cultural shift.

This year, Slate published a divisive take on the actress' bust, with an opinion piece with the headline 'Sydney Sweeney’s Boobs Are Not That Big.' The writer did make some solid points, as they pondered how Sweeney could seemingly get away with wearing no bra on the red carpet despite her boob size. 

Sydney Sweeney goes bra-free at the 2024 Vanity Fair Oscar Party. Image: Getty. 

"Her boobs are small enough to be held in place beneath a plunging halter top with some professional-grade boob tape, which is not a thing most people with truly large breasts can say," the writer Shannon Palus penned.

Many women have big boobs and boobs much bigger than Sydney and celebs listed above. But like much of the celebrity culture, there's a double standard at play for the more conventionally attractive celebrities, and they tend to most often be slim, white women. 

It's these women who gain the most attention, but the attention is not always desired. Sweeney has spoken about how after developing breasts at an early age, she had planned to get a breast reduction.

"When I was in high school, I used to feel uncomfortable about how big my boobs were and I used to say that when I turned 18, I was going to get a boob job to make them smaller," she told Glamour UK in an interview from 2023.

"I’m so glad I didn’t. I like them. They’re my best friends." 

But even after embracing her bust size, Sweeney still struggles with people making assumptions she's some 'bimbo' stereotype. “I have big boobs, I’m blonde, and that’s all I have,” Sweeney told The Sun in 2023.

She said this has affected the response to her acting work where she displays her body. 

“I’m very proud of my work in Euphoria. I thought it was a great performance. But no one talks about it because I got naked. I do The White Lotus and all of a sudden critics are paying attention," she reflected in an interview with The Independent in 2022. 

This doesn't mean she hasn't readily embraced her reputation. On Sweeney's recent stint hosting Saturday Night Live, she appeared in a sketch working at Hooters making thousands of dollars in tips. 

Sydney Sweeney on SNL. Image: NBC. 

She made light of her attention-grabbing assets. "I've tried to work at other jobs, and I can't. I worked at an airport, no planes took off. I was a crossing guard, thousands died," she moaned in the sketch. 

Sweeney's sloganed shirt didn't come out of nowhere. There's a good chance she's responding to Hollywood producer Carol Baum declaring at a recent speaking event that the star is "not pretty" and "can’t act", two separate sentiments conflated into a generalised view that she's overrated.

In response, Sweeney said via her representative that it was "sad that a woman in the position to share her expertise and experience chooses instead to attack another woman," they told Variety.

With this added context, Sweeney's shirt announcing she was 'sorry for having great tits,' wasn't so much a joke but a clapback to the people who judge her based on her boobs rather than her brilliance as one of the most booked and busy actors in Hollywood.

I don't judge her based on her boobs, but there's no denying that her boobs are a part of the Sydney Sweeney package. 

Luckily for Sweeney, the most coveted body shifts from year to year, and after her time expires, another woman and a new pair of bountiful boobs will be waiting in the wings. 

Feature image: Getty/Instagram/@sydney_sweeney.

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